Cody Goes to Math Camp
by Elianna22
Summary: One-shot fluff inspired by the classic SLOZAC episode "Cody Goes to Math Camp" – my very first Suite Life fanfic.


**A/N: Hello, from NYC, where I am finally on my summer vacation and visiting my spiritual home of Brooklyn... OK, guys, I have a confession to make. I lied when I said **_**Just One of the Guys**_** was my first-ever attempt at **_**Suite Life**_** fanfiction. This fluffy little one-shot, based on the classic SLOZAC episode "Cody Goes to Camp," was my first attempt at writing about this universe. The brotherly love was too sweet to ignore, so I added some more emotions, events and dialogue just for fun, without fully fleshing out the entire episode.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the **_**Suite Life**_** franchise.

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**Cody Goes to Math Camp

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Cody's POV

"Zack, you're gonna miss your brother, too, aren't ya?" Mom asked, squeezing Zack around his shoulders.

"Like slow-healing scab," twelve-year-old Zack drawled.

Tears stung Cody's eyes. He felt like Zack had punched him, something he did every now and then. _Zack's just jealous,_ he told himself bravely._ I'm going to have fun at math camp and he'll be stuck here without anyone to hang out with, or pick on, for two whole weeks. Well, it sucks to be Zack—for a change._

Their mom seemed to be on Cody's side. "You guys have never been apart," she pointed out. "Not ever."

"Except for the first ten minutes when Cody wasn't born," Zack piped up. "Those were the days," he added, assuming a tone of bliss.

Cody ignored his twin brother's hurtful remark and grabbed his sports bag. He wasn't going to let Zack ruin this trip he'd looked forward to for so long.

Mom headed to the door of their hotel suite. "Hurry up, Cody. I don't want you to miss your bus."

"Yeah, you don't wanna miss a bus full of nerds going, 'Two, four, six, eight, why can't we get a date?'" Zack jeered.

Cody decided to ignore this, too. "Well, bye, Zack," he said as cheerfully as he could, standing in the doorway of Suite 2330.

"Yeah, whatever." Zack didn't even look at him.

Cody's vision blurred with tears and his lower lip trembled. In spite of Zack's obnoxious mood, Cody had still expected a good-bye hug, or at least a hand-shake. _Oh well, whatever. I'm going to have a great time without Zack_, he decided. He gave a half-hearted wave and walked out, shutting the door firmly behind him. _Maybe being apart will be good for us_.

Zack's POV

_Free at last!_ Zack launched himself at the sofa, landing with a half-bounce/half-sprawl. _Let the good times begin!_

[***]

_Dear Mom and Zack,_

_Math camp is super fun. I have lots of new friends and am learning about inverse tangents. I even know how to calculate the circumference of a moose. Yesterday it rained._

_Love, Cody_

"My baby loves camp," sniffled Mom, turning the postcard over and then flipping it again. "Oh, I miss him soooo much, but I'm glad he's having fun."

Zack wasn't so sure. _He_ definitely wasn't having any fun these days. With their trusty twin telepathy, Zack was sure Cody was having a crappy time at math camp. He had to be a nervous wreck without Blankie. Zack read the postcard again. Suddenly he knew the truth. Cody wanted to come home.

[***]

"I'm worried about him! He's up in there, in the wilderness. Right now he could be hanging from a cliff, over a waterfall, with a pack of wolves and a grizzly bear snapping at him!" Zack made threatening motions with his hands to illustrate the horrors facing Cody. He could actually see this fearsome scene in his mind—his brother dangling helplessly as wild beasts menaced upon him.

"It's _math_ camp," Mom interrupted. "The worst that could happen is that he'd sit on his compass."

"But Mooom..." Zack's throat tightened and his chin wobbled. He wasn't used to feeling like he was going to cry. "I'm really worried about Cody!" The scary image wouldn't go away. Mom reached out to hug him and he leaned against her.

"Honey, I'm telling you, we're probably in more danger _here_ than he is _there_," Mom brushed her hand over Zack's hair and planted a kiss on his forehead.

As if on cue, the stage began to shake. Zack and Mom jumped up as the floor lurched beneath their feet.

"Front, not reverse!" came a shout from outside. Suddenly, to Zack's amazement, London's new sports car crashed through the wall of the empty lounge. London and Mr. Moseby sat blinking in the front seats as dust and debris settled around them.

"Oh my goodness, are you OK?" cried Mom, rushing towards them. London looked slowly at the destruction surrounding the car and shrugged with her trademark clueless expression.

Zack could practically see the smoke coming out of Mr. Moseby's ears. The lounge wall was completely shattered and the air vent hung down into the car. Mr. Moseby was going to freak out big time. _Cody's gonna be SO bummed that he missed this_. He couldn't wait to rub it in Cody's face.

"I'm not cleanin' that up." Muriel had wandered into the lounge and was gazing distastefully at the wreckage.

[***]

"Cody, pick up," Zack demanded into the phone, a couple of hours later, after Mr. Moseby's tantrum had finally exhausted itself, and Mr. Moseby in the process. "You won't _believe_ what just happened here. London drove through the lounge _wall_. PICK UP, already!"

[***]

Zack lay on his bed, face buried in his pillow, hoping his mom wouldn't hear him. How had he become such a wimp? He hadn't even cried when Dad had left on a six-month-tour last year. Cody, naturally, had bawled like a baby and run after Dad's tour bus for four blocks. _What a loser._

And now he, Zack, who had always been the super-cool older twin, was a total girlie mess just because Cody was away for two weeks. He hadn't known what missing Cody would feel like—or even that he would miss his little brother at all. He'd thought that having the suite, and everyone at the hotel, to himself would be a non-stop party. Instead he felt totally and completely alone.

Cody had to be feeling the same way. Zack tried to tap into their twin telepathy. There was no way Cody could be having fun at math camp. His mom, Maddie and London were wrong, they had to be. Cody was just as miserable up in the boonies as Zack was at the Tipton. Zack just needed his mom to believe him. Twin telepathy did not lie.

[***]

The grizzly bear ambled closer, and still Cody sat in the clearing, measuring the angle of the tree stump with his stupid protractor.

"Cody, run!" screamed Zack. No sound came out. He tried again. "Run for your life, Cody!"

Cody obviously couldn't hear him. The bear took another step, his front paw reaching out toward Zack's poor oblivious brother–

"Nooooooooo!"

Zack found himself sitting up in bed, in pitch darkness. He was covered in a cold sweat, breathing hard. The only sound he could hear was a thudding in his ears. What the heck was going on?

_It was just a dream_, he told himself as the realization made itself clear. _Just a dream_. Maybe the whole math camp thing had been a dream?

But no. Even in the complete darkness, Zack could sense Cody's empty bed on the other side of their room. Slowly, heart still pounding, he lay back down on his pillow. It took a long time for his heartbeat to return to normal, and even longer for him to fall asleep again.

Mom had already left when Zack woke up in the morning. He grabbed the cordless phone from the sofa and punched in Cody's number. "Hi, this is Cody using my mom's cellphone," chirped the familiar, dorky message. Zack felt a jolt of twin telepathy and his heart began to race again. Something was definitely wrong. He _had_ to get to math camp and rescue Cody.

[***]

"Hey, Cody!" Zack hissed from the front yard. He could see Cody and Tapeworm outside a cabin with another math geek. At least his brother was OK, sitting there in his babyish monkey slippers. No grizzly bears in sight—yet.

Cody's POV

"Zack!" shouted Cody, happy and excited at his brother's sudden appearance at Camp Knock-A-Number in the middle of the night, along with Maddie, London and Muriel. He bounded down the porch steps. He wanted to rush over and hug Zack. But his new friends were right here, and he was definitely the cool one of the bunch. "How'd you guys get up here?" he asked instead.

"I was abducted," Maddie answered with a shudder.

"And I drove!" London announced, full of her typical rich-girl glee.

"Oh, please," retorted Muriel. "If I hadn't taken the wheel, we'd still be in the hotel parking lot!"

Cody turned back to his brother. "So, what's up?"

"We're here to break you out," Zack pushed Cody towards the cabin "Go pack your stuff."

Cody felt confused and disappointed. Had their mom sent Zack to guilt him into coming home early? She'd sounded fine during their phone call this evening. "Why?"

"I knew you were having a lousy time. I got your twin telepathy calls." Zack mimed the twin telepathy mechanism.

"Well, it must have been your _other_ twin," said Cody, "because I'm having a great time. And I'm really learning a lot."

"Uh oh," Zack groaned, "it's worse than I thought."

Cody's own twin telepathy kicked in at that moment, and he understood what was going on. "Uh, guys, would you mind if I talked to Zack in private for a moment?" he asked his friends, taking his brother's arm and pulling him up the steps.

After the others had run off on their various moonlight adventures, Cody turned to Zack who was sitting on the old trunk. "You know what my twin telepathy is telling me? You missed me, you missed me." He did a little happy dance on the porch. Finally, it was _his_ turn to rub something in Zack's face.

"Did not," Zack shot back.

"Did so!"Cody crossed his arms and smirked triumphantly at Zack.

"Did not," Zack exclaimed, a little too defensively. "It was, it was _Mom_ who missed you. She just sits on the sofa, staring at your baby pictures, crying and eating ice cream with a shovel."

"Well, that's funny," Cody challenged. "'Cuz she called me after dinner and she bragged about how well she's doing on her diet. It was _you_ who missed me."

"She lied!" Zack insisted.

"No, _you_ lied." Cody bounced around the porch again, chanting, "You missed me, you missed me!" Rubbing it in was fun. He could see why Zack enjoyed it so much. But Zack was not a happy camper right now, and not just because he hated math.

Zack looked away from him, and Cody spotted something blue and extremely familiar poking out from Zack's half-open backpack. "Is that Blankie?" he exclaimed, snatching up his fuzzy baby-blue pal.

"Yeah, I thought you might miss it." Zack knew him too well.

"Thanks, I did!" In spite of his delight, Cody was glad his new friends weren't around to see him cuddling an old rag.

"So you miss a lousy blanket but not your own twin brother?" Zack burst out, his voice dripping with hurt and betrayal. Cody didn't need twin telepathy to know Zack felt _exactly_ the same way he had when Zack repeatedly insulted him before he left for camp.

Cody sighed. It was time to stop mocking his brother. "OK, maybe I missed you a little bit," he admitted honestly, sitting down next to Zack. "But not enough to come home early." It felt good to say no to Zack for once, even though Zack looked so sad that Cody couldn't help feeling bad for him.

"Oh. OK. I understand," Zack actually did sound like he understood, in spite of his upset feelings.

"You know, one day we actually _will_ be apart," Cody pointed out.

"Yeah, sure… when you're math a professor and I'm a race car driver / secret agent." Zack said this with a straight face, but Cody could tell his brother was cheering up.

"I'll be home in six days," said Cody brightly. "Think you can make it?"

It was Zack's turn to sigh. "Sure. Heck, if London's driving, we won't even be _home_ for six days." Zack had definitely cheered up now. "And if Muriel's driving, _I'm_ going to need Blankie!" Cody laughed as Zack grabbed Blankie and hung on as though for dear life.

Their twin telepathy was back on track. Both twins felt relieved, knowing everything was OK between them again.

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**A/N: The ending felt kind of abrupt and the whole piece never felt quite finished, but it was mostly an experiment. I hope you enjoyed it, despite these flaws! **

**Here's another little drabble I wrote, shortly after the one-shot, based on the ending of "Moseby's Big Brother." Again, the brotherly love was just too sweet to ignore.

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Cody had never spoken to Zack so assertively. Normally he would have turned on the fake waterworks by now, just to make Zack feel guilty and shut him up. It was the only way he knew how. _But not this time_. This time he was going to tell Zack exactly what was what. "I don't want to keep everything bottled up inside for 30 years and wind up hating you!" he burst out.

"You'd _hate_ me?" Zack couldn't hide the shock and hurt from his voice. He couldn't imagine Cody hating _anyone_, let alone his own twin brother. Had he finally gone too far?

"Eventually," said Cody sullenly. "Like now," he added, "if I don't get this bike."

"It's yours." Zack pushed the bike towards Cody.

"And another thing," Cody continued, clearly on a roll. "From now on, I expect you to think of me as your equal." He paused for a moment of smugness. "Except in school, where I am clearly better."

"For you, of course." Zack was actually proud of Cody for standing up for himself for a change. But he couldn't stand to see Cody so angry at him. "Now let's hug it out, you overly sensitive lug," he added. He held out his arms in a peace offering.

Cody considered a manly handshake instead, then had a change of heart and flung his arms around Zack. No matter what Zack said or did, Cody could never stay mad at him for long. Zack was his big brother and he loved him, just as he knew Mr. Moseby loved Spencer. Shoot, now he was gonna cry for real.

Zack hugged Cody tightly, relieved their fight was over. Cody was such a great brother to him. He really did need to appreciate Cody more and be less like Spencer... OK, a lot less like Spencer.

Suddenly the hot blonde in the green dress sauntered out of the hotel looking like a mermaid with legs. Zack watched her over Cody's shoulder, expressions of brotherly love forgotten.

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**A/N: These two pieces are the last leftover files from my **_**Suite Life**_** story folder. Up next will be Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the sequel to **_**Just One of the Guys**_**. Xoxoxo – Ellie**


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